Pure by Neha Raghavan

I drew Pure a few days after I publicly came out, and I was depressed and exhausted. I kept being told that queer people were sexual deviants, disturbed, sinners, evil, etc. After getting into (yet another) fight with my mom, I called my friend and ranted about everything. I stayed up all night with them, drawing, crying, and venting, and by the next morning I’d completed this piece. Pure is a queer depiction of sexuality with the same emotional purity that society affords heterosexuality. These two men are naked and embracing, but this painting isn’t intended to evoke carnal desire; these men are completing one another. Pure is a direct response to homophobic ideas that equate queerness with immorality. The two aren’t committing morally corrupt acts; rather, they’re intensely in love, smiling as they embrace the beauty of their sexuality.

Neha Raghavan is a freshman pre-med Women’s and Gender Studies major. She also works as an illustrator and pianist and has an unhealthy addiction to boba tea.